If you visit Calabria, particularly for the Peperoncino Festival in Diamante, you’ll sooner or later discover an interesting pork sausage named ‘Nduja. This is a spreadable sort of salami that has been made in southern Calabria for hundreds of years.
Reaper Cream Cheese: Burn! Tested
Someone bottled a cliff’s edge and named it Reaper Cream Cheese. By “someone” I mean International Society of Culinary Pyros. I met the stuff at this year’s show and just had to bring it home to play with on the grill.
World’s Hottest Burger?
The Hellfire Burger from Xtreme Smokehouse isn’t exactly comfort food. There may be a good two or three seconds of warm and fuzzy when you first bite into it. That’s when the honeymoon ends and unadulterated mouth-terror kicks in. At a claimed 1 million SHU, the Hellfire may be the hottest hunk of ground beef ever tucked between two buns. Outside of the porn industry, that is. For point of reference, Ed Currie’s Carolina Reaper, the hottest pepper on Earth, clocks in at 1.5 million SHU. American pepper spray weighs in at 2 million SHU. Conquering a Hellfire Burger is asking a lot of digestive system. In fact, you should probably buy it flowers and wine before you even ask it to process the thing.
Syrena’s Seduction Jerk Sauce: Burn! Tested
Usually when someone writes “seduction” and “jerk” in the same sentence, they’re either referring to some jackass who broke their heart, or a date with a bottle of lotion. Not when it comes to the sweet awesome that is Pirate Johnny’s Syrena’s Seduction Hot Sauce, though. It’s a Jamaican jerk-inspired sweet heat that’s long on island flavor with a mild to moderate burn.
Schultz’s Gourmet Goes National
A couple of years ago, Schultz’s Gourmet was a huge hit at the National Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show. Everyone was hot to try their line of organic hot sauces. Now, the company launches nationally into Kroger stores in time for the 2015 grilling season.
Burn! Tested: Pirate Johnny’s Scorching Pirate and Jerk Spice Rubs
Pirate Johnny’s was a huge hit at last year’s show. Their Caribbean-style rubs went over like butane at a pyromaniac convention. If pyromaniacs had a convention. Which, if they did, would be pretty obvious from the inferno observable from outer space. But this story isn’t about the type of fire that gets you life in prison. It’s about the delicious kind that burns in your mouth the more you eat. Namely, Pirate Johnny’s Hot Jerk Spice Rub and Scorched Pirate BBQ Rub. Both were my pleasure to test for Burn! Blog.
Holiday Heat: Give the Gift of SaucePack
Ah, Christmas shopping. It’s the MMA part of the holiday season, from the first Black Friday fisticuff to the last battle for mall parking on Christmas Eve. Someday, when I’ve completely sold out, I may produce “Pay-Per-View Holiday Shopping Extreme: Christmas Smackdown.” Until that time, I’ll stick to avoiding holiday headache with gifts like SaucePack, here.
